New Milestone Reached!

Today is a significant milestone for the Bradley family. We’ve been working towards this for about four years now, and my wife Cameron and I are both so excited it’s finally here.

Today Cameron begins her dream job as a full time housewife.

Yes, dream job. Since Cameron was young she’s always dreamed of being able to spend her energy taking care of her family instead of working at a 9 to 5. It’s a goal I’ve also had personally for my future wife since before we ever met.

Now I’m hearing some murmers out there. Maybe some of you aren’t impressed Cameron landed the gig. Or perhaps you’re wondering why we have to work nearly four years towards quitting a job. Or you might even be annoyed because as you’re reading you want to quit too!

The Job Requirements

Like most jobs there were several requirements we had to meet before Cameron’s application could be accepted.

- Must be debt free (except the house) with an emergency fund. We’ve been following Dave Ramsey’s personal finance plan since before we were married. Being debt free with money for a rainy day is a pre-requisite for taking our foot off the gas. For all you Ramsey fans out there I’m talking about Step-6.

- Must own a house we can afford. Living in a single family home is another goal we wanted squared away before we became a single family household. The big requirement here was that the mortgage had to be less than 30% of (only) my take-home pay (after taxes). We put off buying a home for a while while we saved up to meet this requirement! It wasn’t easy to be patient, but it was worth it.

- Must have a husband who loves his (stable) job. Once you go down to a single income household that one income becomes very important. Being the sole provider and simultaneously despising your work is a stressful situation. Last winter I spent quite a bit of time hunting for the perfect place to land, and I was blessed to find it at Invodo.

So What’s The Big Deal?

The big deal is that there’s nothing special about the Bradleys. We don’t have a trust fund. We never made gigantic salaries (and I still don’t FYI). We didn’t inherit anything.

We just decided where we wanted to go. Planned how to get there. And followed the plan.

So yes, you can do this. If you happened to have a trust fund, gigantic salary, or inheritance, even better! But if you’re like us the only thing you need is a goal and a plan to get there.

What’s Holding You Back?

I know there are some of you out there that will read this and think, “We could never do that because _______.” Or “That sounds great, but I’m not sure where to start.”

I want to challenge you on that.

Your thinking, no matter how harmless it may seem, will make or break you on this. Instead of saying “We could never do that.” Ask “How could we do that?” Instead of saying “I don’t know where to start.” Say “I’m going to start by learning more.”

As Henry Ford observed: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”

My offer to you:

If you’ve got a dream you’re afraid to think about because it’s just too big then I want to help you. Add a comment, find me on Facebook, or just drop me an email privately and we’ll chat (deacon [at] lifestoked [dot] com). Just think what your life could look like six months from now…

(photo credit)